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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

When I first read “Tom Sawyer”, I was captivated by the
setting almost as much I was by the story itself. Rural Missouri must have been an awesome
place for Tom Sawyer to grow up! It
seemed like there was more than enough opportunity for adventure in this small
town, with all the open land and hidden caves.
Living along the Mississippi River would definitely allow a boy to
explore to his heart’s content.

Tom Sawyer and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, are
definitely not the most well-behaved boys in town! They’re the type of kids who would sneak off
to a graveyard at midnight, which is where their adventure actually begins. These two friends stumble into a gang of
graverobbers, and secretly witness a murder!
From there, the boys become wrapped up in the manhunt for an outlaw
named Injun Joe, and the search for his secret buried treasure.

As much as I enjoy the excellent books that are being
written today, not many of them have the main characters involved in dangerous
situations like these. I guess that
people today might think that a story that involves a murder or a manhunt
wouldn’t be appropriate for kids? In my
opinion, things like this are essential to a good adventure story. If Tom Sawyer wasn’t in any kind of real danger,
do you think that you would care as much about him?

“Tom Sawyer” is one of those classic books that everyone
should read, and it definitely gets my highest recommendation. It really made me think back to my own
hometown, and the small adventures that I had there when I was growing up. Take a second to think about your own
home. Has anything ever happened to you
there that you might consider to be an adventure?